Sarovar Newsletter | December 2018 | Vol Iv
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SAROVAR NEWSLETTER | DECEMBER 2018 | VOL IV SPECIAL ISSUE | WETLANDS FOR A SUSTAINABLE URBAN FUTURE CONTENTS From the President’s Desk 1 Conserving Urban Wetlands: Imperatives and Challenges 3 Wetlands of National Capital Region 9 Bhubaneswar: Vanishing Wetlands of the Temple City 12 East Kolkata Wetlands: Metro’s Choking Lifeline 13 Sasthamkotta: Kollam’s Lifeline Needs a New Lease of Life 15 Ramsar CoP 13: Report Back from Dubai 20 Tools 23 World Wetlands Day 2019 27 News 29 DISCLAIMER Sarovar is the newsletter of Wetlands International South Asia The presentation of material in this newsletter and the geographical designations employed do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever by Wetlands International South Asia, concerning the legal stattus of any country, area or territory or concerning the delimitations of its boundaries or frontiers. The views and opinions expressed in SAROVAR are not necessarily those of Wetlands International South Asia Society (Regd.) or its members. Articles may be reproduced elsewhere acknowledging the source as ‘SAROVAR, The newsletter of Wetlands International South Asia’. The Editorial Panel welcomes contributions of articles and information. These may be sent to: [email protected] Cover Photograph: Thane Creek Flamingo Sanctuary, Navi Mumbai Photo Credit: Sugandha Menda Inside Cover Photograph: Tampara Wetland, Odisha Photo Credit: Dushyant Mohil Production & Design Team: Dushyant Mohil, Astha Sharma and Kamal Dalakoti Wetlands International South Asia Wetlands International South Asia Society (Regd.) (WISA) is a Non-Government Organisation with a mission to sustain and restore wetlands, their resources and biodiversity. WISA’s office at New Delhi, India was established in 1996 as part of the Global Network Offices of The Wetlands International (WI) with a mandate to promote Wetland Conservation and wise use in South Asia region. WI is a global Non-Profit Organisation which works on Wetland conservation and restoration through 19 regional offices in over 100 Countries supported by headquarters based in the Netherlands. WI is also one of the 5 International Organisation Partners of the Convention on Wetlands (Ramsar Convention). In 2005, WISA was registered as a legal entity under the society’s registration act of Government of India. The strategic direction and policies of WISA are set by a General Body which comprises eminent experts and conservation planners. urban centres. One-third of country’s Gross Domestic Product is generated by just 13% of urban population, living on only 0.2% of land area. Experiences from the FROM THE management of urban wetlands as East Kolkata Wetlands (West Bengal), Bhoj Wetlands (Madhya Pradesh) and Sasthamkotta (Kerala) indicate that ecosystem services PRESIDENT’S and biodiversity values derived from urban wetlands can improve environmental sustainability in urban spaces. The East Kolkata Wetlands are used to treat the entire DESK city’s sewage, and through an age-old practice of resource recovery, also used to produce over 15,000 MT of fish and 12,000 MT of vegetables annually. Several cities such as It gives me a great pleasure to place the fourth volume of Bhopal and Kollam derives their principal water supply our newsletter ‘Sarovar’ in your hands. from wetlands. Recreational values linked with wetlands can be a significant source of revenue as can be seen in the This volume focuses on urban wetlands based on the 2018 backwaters of Kerala. World Wetlands Day theme ‘Wetlands for a sustainable urban future’. Healthy and biologically rich wetlands make It is disheartening to note that expansion of urban spaces cities and towns livable, through their role in groundwater has created significant infrastructural, socio-spatial and recharge, buffering floods, filtering wastewater, enhancing ecological overloads, particularly on wetland ecosystems. landscape aesthetics, providing income generation The development of major urban centres, as Bengaluru, opportunities and ultimately supporting overall human Delhi. Kolkata, Chennai, and Hyderabad have been welfare. associated with a concomitant decline in wetlands. As wetlands decline in urban spaces, so does the capacity of India is on the course of rapid urbanization. As per the landscape to provide ecosystem services for the people estimates, as many as 377 million people inhabit her 8,000 living around these areas. As more areas are concretized, River Yamuna Floodplains at Okhla, New Delhi 1 the runoff increases significantly, further making the areas vulnerable. Studies on increasing urban flooding risks in Bangaluru and Chennai have identified wetland encroachment as one of the main causative factors. We hope that the articles and case studies presented in this newsletter trigger a healthy debate amongst the policy- makers, researchers and practitioners on ways and means of integrating conservation and wise use of wetlands within urban planning. Wetlands International South Asia seeks to continue its endeavour to bridge the science, policy and practice divide that limits application of best practices and lessons for the conservation of urban wetlands. We seek your support in delivering our vision and mission. The forthcoming issue of Sarovar will be on the theme ‘wetlands and climate change’. I look forward to receiving Dr Sidharth Kaul | President your contributions to the newsletter on this theme, and suggestions for further improving our work. Happy reading! WISA PHOTO LIBRARY PHOTO WISA 2 CONSERVING URBAN WETLANDS: IMPERATIVES AND CHALLENGES Urban development and wetlands conservation have been at cross-roads. In this article, Dr Sidharth Kaul (President, Wetlands International South Asia) and Dr Ritesh Kumar (Conservation Programme Manager) provide an overview of the status of urban wetlands, restoration measures adopted, challenges and way ahead. Rapid urbanization forms an integral part of India’s rich history of constructing cascading wetland systems to economic development. Since 1951, the number of town store rainwater. and cities in the country has more than doubled (from Urban wetlands are also significant cultural and three thousand in 1951 to over eight thousand at present), recreational avenues. The backwaters of Kerala are and the urban population increased over six times (from visited by over 0.3 million tourists annually, generating 62 million to 377 million). The urban areas are also the an economy of around 6,000 million Indian Rupees. In engines of growth. The top 100 cities, with just 16% of North India, festivals as Chath, wherein devotees stand in the national population living on measly 0.24% of the wetlands to offer prayers to Sun, is a beautiful expression country’s land area, contribute over 40% of India’s Gross of the cultural connections communities have with water Domestic Product. and wetlands. Healthy wetlands play a crucial role in making cities Yet, as built up spaces within urban areas have increased, and towns livable by helping in groundwater recharge, the wetlands have undergone a drastic decline. Analysis buffering floods, filtering wastewater, regulating of published land use and land cover data from 22 cities microclimate, enhancing landscapes aesthetics, and by Wetlands International South Asia team indicates that providing livelihood opportunities. Countless plants and during 1970 – 2014, every one square kilometre increase animals depend on wetlands for survival and maintenance in built-up area matched up with a loss of 25 ha wetlands. of their germplasm. The 2011 National Wetlands Atlas of The most rapid loss was seen in metros, namely New India estimates the extent of wetlands to be 15.26 million Delhi, Bangaluru, Chennai, Mumbai and Hyderabad. hectares. The atlas does not provide a separate estimate Wetlands have invariably been treated as wastelands. for wetlands located in urban and rural areas. A rapid Several cities have waste dumps located within wetlands assessment done by Wetlands International South Asia – for example, Chennai dumps its wastes in Pallikarnai, indicates that nearly 8% of the total wetland area is likely Kolkata in Dhapa landfill located within East Kolkata to be situated within the urban sprawls. The states of Wetlands, New Delhi in the area adjoining Bhalsawa and Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Odisha, Andhra Guwahati in a waste dump located on the shore of Deepor Pradesh and Telangana account for over half of the total Beel. With not more than one-fifth of country’s municipal urban wetland area. solid waste treated, wetlands have become the ultimate Wetlands, through their wide-ranging ecosystem services waste receptacles. Several of the wetlands are so degraded and biodiversity, have since time immemorial served that their restoration is nearly impossible. as urban areas’ natural infrastructure. Cities as Bhopal (through Bhoj Wetlands in Madhya Pradesh), Kollam (through Sasthamkotta in Kerala), and New Delhi (through Loss of wetlands increases the River Yamuna floodplains) are critically dependent on vulnerability of urban areas wetlands to meet their water supply requirements. The Urban areas tend to alter hydrological regimes in diverse City of Kolkata filters its wastes through the maze of fish ways. As built up surface increase, the runoff also ponds located on its eastern periphery, transforming increases. As the population becomes more concentrated, sewage’s nutrients into fish and vegetables, and in that the demand for water, and the generation of wastewater process generating livelihoods of nearly 20,000